January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 334 days remaining until the end of the year (335 in leap years).

[edit] Events

• 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon.
• 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
• 1747 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
• 1814 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1846 - After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 1849 - Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).
• 1862 - Alvan Graham Clark observes the first white dwarf star, a companion of Sirius, through an eighteen inch telescope at Northwestern University.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
• 1867 - Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board of a French ship for Algeria
• 1876 - The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
• 1891 - The first attempt of a Portuguese republican revolution breakes out in the northern city of Porto.
• 1900 - Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambuan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion
• 1915 - World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russia
• 1917 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1918 - A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
• 1919 - The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1929 - The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
• 1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
• 1936 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
• 1941 - Layforce set sail.
• 1944 - World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
• 1944 - World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) was destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
• 1945 - US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
• 1946 - Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
• 1950 - President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
• 1953 - A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.
• 1956 - Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1957 - Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
• 1958 - Explorer program: Explorer 1 - The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.
• 1958 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
• 1961 - Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 - Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
• 1966 - Luna program: soviet union's unmanned spacecraft Luna 9 is launched.
• 1968 - Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon.
• 1968 - Nauru declares independence from Australia.
• 1970 - A Saskatchewan Court convicts 17-year-old hippie David Milgaard of murder; he is sentenced to life in prison. He spent 23 years in jail until April 14, 1992 when DNA evidence proves him innocent of all charges.
• 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 Mission - Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
• 1971 - The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1980 - Thirty-nine people burn to death in the occupation of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala.
• 1990 - The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, USSR.
• 1995 - President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
• 1996 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
• 2000 - Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 persons aboard.
• 2001 - In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
• 2003 - The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
• 2007 - Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.

[edit] Births

• 877 - Taejo of Goryeo, ruler of Korea (d. 943)
• 1512 - King Henry of Portugal (d. 1580)
• 1543 - Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan (d. 1616)
• 1550 - Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic leader (d. 1588)
• 1597 - John Francis Regis, French saint (d. 1640)
• 1624 - Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
• 1673 - Louis de Montfort, French catholic priest and saint (d. 1716)
• 1686 - Hans Egede, Norwegian Lutheran missionary (d. 1758)
• 1752 - Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
• 1759 - François Devienne, French composer (d. 1803)
• 1797 - Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
• 1820 - William B. Washburn, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
• 1835 - William Charles Lunalilo, Monarch of Hawaii (d. 1874)
• 1857 - George Jackson Churchward, Great Western Railway Chief mechanical engineer. (d. 1933)
• 1865 - Henri Desgrange, Founder of the Tour-de-France (d. 1940)
• 1865 - Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1951)
• 1866 - Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
• 1868 - Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1928)
• 1872 - Zane Grey, American Western writer (d. 1939)
• 1881 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
• 1881 - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)
• 1884 - Theodor Heuss, 1st President of Germany (Bundespräsident) (d. 1963)
• 1889 - Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
• 1892 - Eddie Cantor, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
• 1894 - Isham Jones, American musician (d. 1956)
• 1896 - Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1966)
• 1902 - Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
• 1902 - Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
• 1905 - John O'Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
• 1911 - Eddie Byrne, British actor (d. 1981)
• 1913 - Don Hutson, American football player (d. 1997)
• 1914 - Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1997)
• 1914 - Sri Daya Mata, Hindu religious figure
• 1914 - Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (d. 1994)
• 1915 - Alan Lomax, American musicologist (d. 2002)
• 1915 - Thomas Merton, American author and monk (d. 1968)
• 1915 - Garry Moore, American comedian (d. 1993)
• 1919 - Jackie Robinson, American baseball player, and the first black player in Major League Baseball (d. 1972)
• 1921 - John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1921 - Carol Channing, American actress and singer
• 1921 - E. Fay Jones, American architect (d. 2004)
• 1921 - Mario Lanza, American singer (d. 1959)
• 1922 - Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1923 - Norman Mailer, American writer and journalist (d. 2007)
• 1925 - Benjamin Hooks, American civil rights leader
• 1926 - Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
• 1928 - Chuck Willis, American singer and songwriter (d. 1958)
• 1929 - Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1929 - Jean Simmons, English actress
• 1930 - Lynn Carlin, American actress
• 1930 - Joakim Bonnier, Swedish racecar driver (d. 1972)
• 1931 - Ernie Banks, American baseball player
• 1931 - Christopher Chataway, English athlete, newscaster and politician
• 1933 - Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
• 1933 - Bernardo Provenzano , Mafia Boss
• 1934 - James Franciscus, American actor (d. 1991)
• 1934 - Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
• 1935 - Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer, Nobel laureate
• 1937 - Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
• 1937 - Andrée Boucher, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
• 1937 - Philip Glass, American composer
• 1937 - Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1938 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• 1938 - James G. Watt, American politician
• 1939 - Claude Gauthier, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1940 - Kitch Christie, South African rugby union coach (d. 1998)
• 1941 - Richard A. Gephardt, American politician
• 1941 - Jessica Walter, American actress
• 1942 - Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
• 1942 - Derek Jarman, British director and writer (d. 1994)
• 1944 - Charlie Musselwhite, American musician
• 1945 - Joseph Kosuth, American conceptual artist
• 1946 - Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (d. 1978)
• 1947 - Jonathan Banks, American actor
• 1947 - Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
• 1948 - Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
• 1949 - Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
• 1949 - Ken Wilber, American philosopher
• 1950 - Alexander Korzhakov, Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard
• 1951 - Dave Benton, Aruban-born singer
• 1951 - Harry Wayne Casey, American singer and musician (KC and the Sunshine Band)
• 1951 - Phil Manzanera, English guitarist (Roxy Music, Quiet Sun, 801)
• 1952 - Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (d. 1969)
• 1954 - Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch musician (Whitesnake)
• 1956 - John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten, English singer (Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd.)
• 1959 - Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
• 1959 - Kelly Lynch, American actress
• 1959 - Kelly Moore, American stock car driver
• 1960 - Grant Morrison, British comic book author
• 1961 - Lloyd Cole, British singer
• 1962 - Sophie Muller, Music video director
• 1964 - Sylvie Bernier, Quebec diver
• 1964 - Jeff Hanneman, American musician (Slayer)
• 1964 - Billey Shamrock, Swedish singer
• 1966 - Dr Umar Alisha, A Sufi Master was Born at Pithapuram.
• 1967 - Fat Mike, American musician
• 1967 - Irene Wan, Hong Kong actress
• 1967 - Joey Wong, Taiwanese actress
• 1968 - Matt King, British actor and comedian
• 1968 - Patrick Stevens, Belgian athlete
• 1970 - Minnie Driver, British actress
• 1971 - Lee Young Ae, South Korean actress
• 1971 - Patrick Kielty, Northern Irish comedian
• 1971 - Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer
• 1973 - Portia de Rossi, Australian actress
• 1974 - Wil Anderson, Australian comedian
• 1974 - Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
• 1975 - Fred Coleman, former National Football League wide receiver
• 1975 - Jackie O, Australian radio host
• 1975 - Preity Zinta, Indian actress
• 1976 - Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer
• 1976 - Buddy Rice, American race car driver
• 1977 - Mark Dutiaume, National Hockey League player
• 1977 - Shingo Katori, Japanese actor and singer (SMAP)
• 1977 - Jim Kleinsasser, National Football League tight end
• 1977 - Kate Shindle, American actress
• 1977 - Kerry Washington, American actress
• 1978 - Fabián Caballero, Argentine footballer
• 1978 - Brad Rutter, Jeopardy! champion
• 1978 - Ray Shah, Irish DJ, TV, radio presenter
• 1979 - Daniel Tammet, British autistic savant
• 1980 - James Adomian, American actor
• 1980 - Ryan Kienle, American musician
• 1980 - Tiffany Limos, American actress
• 1981 - Sergio D. Acosta, Chicano Filmmaker
• 1981 - Julio Arca, Argentinian football player
• 1981 - Justin Timberlake, American singer
• 1982 - Yuniesky Betancourt, Major League Baseball shortstop
• 1982 - Andreas Görlitz, German football player
• 1982 - Bruno Nogueira, Portuguese actor, comedian and TV host
• 1982 - Elena Paparizou, Greek singer
• 1982 - Jānis Sprukts, National Hockey League player
• 1982 - Brad Thompson, Major League Baseball player
• 1983 - James Sutton, British television actor
• 1983 - Tom Vangeneugden, Belgian swimmer
• 1984 - Jeremy Wariner, American 400m runner
• 1984 - Vernon Davis, NFL player
• 1985 - Adam Federici, Australian footballer
• 1985 - Mario Williams, NFL player
• 1986 - Yves Makabu-Makalambay, Belgian football goalkeeper

[edit] Deaths

• 743 - Muhammad al-Baqir, Shia Imam (b. 676)
• 1398 - Emperor Sukō (b. 1334)
• 1435 - Xuande, Emperor of China (b. 1398)
• 1561 - Bairam Khan, Great Mughal General, regent for Akbar
• 1561 - Menno Simons, Dutch Mennonite leader (b. 1496)
• 1580 - Henry of Portugal (b. 1512)
• 1606 - Guy Fawkes - Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1570)
• 1606 - Ambrose Rokewood - Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. c. 1578)
• 1606 - Thomas Wintour - Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1571)
• 1615 - Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (b. 1543)
• 1632 - Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
• 1665 - Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
• 1686 - Jean Mairet, French dramatist (b. 1604)
• 1720 - Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councillor (c. 1654)
• 1729 - Jakob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
• 1736 - Filippo Juvara, Italian architect (b. 1678)
• 1788 - Charles Edward Stuart, the exiled Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland (b. 1720)
• 1790 - Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (b. 1718)
• 1794 - Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
• 1815 - José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
• 1828 - Alexander Ypsilantis, Phanariot Greek military commander and national hero of the Greek War of Independence (b.1792
• 1844 - Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
• 1888 - John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
• 1892 - Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
• 1907 - Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
• 1923 - Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (b. 1869)
• 1933 - John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
• 1942 - Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
• 1942 - Rolf Wenkhaus, German actor (b. 1917)
• 1944 - Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
• 1945 - Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
• 1954 - Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor of the FM radio (b. 1890)
• 1955 - John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
• 1956 - A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
• 1966 - General Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army Officer (b. 1887)
• 1967 - Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
• 1969 - Meher Baba, Indian guru (b. 1894)
• 1970 - Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
• 1971 - Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian, linguist (b. 1891)
• 1973 - Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
• 1974 - Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born film studio executive (b. 1882)
• 1976 - Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
• 1981 - Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
• 1987 - Yves Allégret, French film director (b. 1907)
• 1990 - Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (b. 1935)
• 1995 - George Abbott, American stage director and producer (b. 1887)
• 1997 - John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
• 1999 - Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
• 1999 - Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler
• 2000 - Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
• 2001 - Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
• 2002 - Francis Gabreski, American fighter pilot (b. 1919)
• 2004 - Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
• 2006 - Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (The Red Shoes) and ballerina (b. 1926)
• 2007 - Kirka Babitzin, Finnish singer (b. 1950)
• 2007 - Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author (b. 1944)
• 2007 - Lee Bergere, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2007 - Adelaide Tambo, South African activist and wife of Oliver Tambo (b. 1929)
• 2008 - Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug (b. 1997)

[edit] Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of St. John Bosco, patron saint of Christian apprentices, editors, and publishers
• Saint Pedro Nolasco
• Saint Marcella
• Saint Geminianus
• Blessed Ludovica
• January 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

January 31

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada